Economy

UK consumer confidence falls at fastest rate since Brexit vote as cost of living bites

Read full article at source ↗

Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 23/10/2026, 07:35:25 UTC.

Briefings

UK consumer confidence dropped to -24 in October, the sharpest decline since the 2016 Brexit vote, driven by Middle East war costs and rising living expenses before the Chancellor's budget. The data from GfK shows a 11-point plunge, marking the first time outside the pandemic period that confidence fell this sharply.

Key points

• Consumer confidence in the UK fell 11 percentage points in October to -24, the fastest decline since the 2016 Brexit vote.
• The drop was driven by escalating economic damage from the Middle East war and rising cost of living pressures.

Context

The data from GfK, released just before John Healey's first budget, indicates the UK economy faces significant headwinds. The Middle East conflict adds to existing consumer pressures, creating a volatile environment for economic forecasting.

Limitations

The evidence is limited to a single data point from October 2026. Confidence figures are snapshots and do not reflect future trends. The exact impact of the Middle East war on the economy remains unquantified in this report.

Generated by Bittrees-hosted qwen35-2b sha256:aaf42c8b7c3c on 23/10/2026, 07:41:26 UTC. Based on publisher-provided feed evidence; may not cover the full original article. Check the source for details.

View archived briefing on IPFS
bafybeiav6gn7h7ynci5awmyvib2vxoczfglfhozgtuquqbsibpttchsewe